I've been having trouble keeping my gear up to date, which is my current excuse for dying a lot. I did the sensible thing and checked out the trading post. Well, it went well.

Items are on the trading post for mere copper above the vendor price. That means that the net cost of the items is only a few copper. I'm sure this will change, for various reasons, but for now, it is a buyer's market.

I've even found yellow weapons, which seem to be somewhere between WoW blue and purple in quality, for mere copper above the vendor price. The size of the upgrade is huge, going up a dozen levels and a level of quality. Hopefully this will help me out in the field. If it doesn't, it cost me only a few copper overall.

On the other hand, selling seems stupid to me. The trading post takes a cut of sale (10%)s. That means that the 1c 'profit' vanishes and turns it into a loss. Put the deposit price (5% of ask price) on top along with the risk of not selling, and it sounds like a terrible idea to sell anything that you can't put at least a few times higher than that merchant price.

This doesn't apply to non-gear items which are already selling for many times their merchant price.

I think the sell prices will go up as more people notice the values available and as sellers realize that getting one copper above the merchant price isn't doing them any good. That means upward pressure on demand and downward on supply. As players spread out in level we may also see fewer low level items available.

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It's a bit of a nobrainer that right now mats go for more than gear. nobody is bothered with upgrades from the MP, there are drops and karma vendors. at the same time everyone wants to level up his noobie professions.

for now I am doing the exact opposite thing; gonna get some goldz selling mats and not bothering to auction gear at all. some of it sells for good gold at the vendors actually (and for more than if you salvage).

Not to compare with WoW (OK, yes I will), but mats almost always go for more than crafted materials in the AH, because more people need them to level crafting.

That said, and while I agree that items are probably under-priced right now, I have a question. Are the items you're finding a little above what you-the-buyer would spend at a vendor, or a little more than what you-the-seller would receive from a vendor? If the former, it may still be profitable (if only a little) to sell at the trading post.

In all the MMOs I've played where there is a non-incidental option to get gear from an NPC (reward, buy, or drop) that is always the case. Most people want to craft but it's almost never the best gearing or economic option.

@Rowan Blaze: I'm finding them for a little above what I can sell to a vendor. For example, I buy a mask for 50c from the TP and then sell it to a vendor for 48c.

@rimecat: It may be the more developed economy (due to age), but in WoW the random drops seemed to be worth a bit more. Though those prices were supported by the existence of disenchanting while even with high material prices, salvaging gear often seems to be a loss.

On my server (Underworld EU) I've calculated that it doesn't pay to salvage anything (including salvage items) as (without calculating in the cost of the salvage kit and the AH cut) I get more value out of vendoring the salvage item or equipment than I would get by selling it on the AH. I realize the smart thing to do would be to salvage away and wait for the prices to rise, but I need to get gold SOMEHOW (and the crafting mats). So I just vendor every non-collectable and buy collectables on the market.

@Anonymous: I'd thought the salvage items were at least worthwhile. When you did the cost of the salvage kits, did you account for them coming in stacks of 25? Another thing to consider is salvaging can liberate the gems and sigils. The gems vendor well and the sigils tend to go for more than the vendor price of the item they came from.

Nope, like I said I didn't even include the cost of the kit... like at all. So if I was able to point at a salvage item and have it turn into crafting mats, the result would be a net loss (as compared to just vendoring the salvage item). I have yet to do extensive calculation with different salvage kits and droprates for rare mats. Although you just gave me an idea to try to AH the salvage items themselves.